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PJ 18CHAPTER 7REC # 1 HATONNGreetings in the Light of His wondrous radiance. May we unify in intent and save this blessed land from destruction. Hatonn present in joy that our friends have come to share and assist for they have heard the call for they would not be here even to inquire regarding validity.
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1990 11:14 A.M. YEAR 3 DAY 338
THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE FIASCO
In response to the many questions pouring in for PROOF that the proper telescope is not orbiting, I shall respond with reason and logical questions. I will not, for security of my people, tell you where it is. I will tell you who to ask for denial of such absurd accusation. Go straight to NASA.
There have been two telescopes built. One of near perfection which the conspirators could never allow in space and one to replace the good one, to be sacrificed. Some of the component parts were even made at the same factory. All sorts of stories covered the duplication such as, "The lens and mirror got scratched, cracked and damaged." Every part of the original telescope functioned perfectly and has functioned perfectly for years. The delays came in portion from getting the counterfeit ready but the actual cause was to stop launching in any manner. So eight years pass in the waiting and testing and there never was a more beauteous piece of equipment built.
Then came the end of the excuses--it had to be launched (well, something had to be launched). The builders were on hand and A telescope had to be loaded aboard the shuttle. The conspirators could not allow that perfection to go into space for they would never allow the pictures to return to earth because what is out there is not what they have told you is out there. Next, they "had problems" and off-loaded the equipment but, for all manner of "security" and "clean" procedures, the scientists were not allowed to be present with the reloading. Loading was handled most carefully indeed with substitution taking place and when the shuttle was launched and all attention was focused, the Hubble was loaded aboard a transport and removed so there would be no slip-ups.
All you really have to do for confirmation is watch the subcommittee Congressional hearing regarding the malfunction and billions of dollars lost and wasted and the need for more to make it function, including a shuttle trip. Watch the ones who are part of the cover-up; they do not even hide the lies and the ones in charge of the hearings do not ask the questions which will uncover anything at all. They sit and give sympathy to the poor scientists who are so disappointed at failure. The cause of blurred pictures is so blatant in the face of the "good" original "double-star" pictures first "sent back". It is appalling to us of these realms that man bites so thoroughly and so instantly. If the mirror was warped, etc., and records naught but fuzzy images--how could it be the double star was not in the least blurred? Oh, they will tell you now, that that is what they "thought" was a double star but was actually due to a faulty focus. No--the first pictures shown were fakes and there is no way the public would know differently.
THIS COULD NOT HAPPEN
Couldn't it? Let us go right back to April, 1981. Your entire first four shuttle launches were lies.
On April 12, 1981, after years of delay, America's first attempt to launch a space shuttle into orbit had finally begun.
The voice of "Mission Control" had become a familiar hallmark of American manned flights into space when the airwaves filled with "T minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4...We've gone for main engine start. We have main engine start." (Engine noise drowns out other noise for several seconds.) ".... and lo and behold America's first Space Shuttle, and the Shuttle has cleared the tower." (Then again the roaring noise on the tape.)
Looking back to the early days, beginning with "PROJECT MERCURY", the voice was that of Col. John Powers. Later, during the "APOLLO" program there were other voices; but regardless of who it was, that familiar voice of "Mission Control" would always stay with you throughout each space flight--that is, until that first shuttle. This time the voice of Mission Control, up until the moment of launch, was that of NASA spokesman Hugh Harris. The last words Harris spoke as the voice of Mission Control were the words you just read: "The Shuttle has cleared the tower."
Television cameras followed the Shuttle as it climbed higher and higher on a column of steam and smoke. For another 30 seconds or so, you were allowed to hear the slowly fading roar of the Shuttle's rocket engines. Then the sounds from Mission Control abruptly changed. Exactly 45 seconds after liftoff, "live" audio from Mission Control was terminated. In its place NASA began feeding the radio and television networks an elaborate recording, which had been prepared far ahead of time by NASA. You must realize, the conspiracy begins work in deceiving far in advance and that is why you ones are so far behind in efforts to even catch up, much less change the course of nations. They put a lot of roaring racket on the tape and nobody could discern anything.
You were still able to see the Columbia by way of long-distance television cameras for another minute and a half, but the sounds you were hearing were no longer "live". They were the sounds of the special NASA tape recording. For the first few minutes of the tape recording, you heard nothing but the sound effects simulating conversation between the Shuttle and NASA-Houston. Then for the first time, you heard the anonymous new voice of Mission Control but who would notice? It changed from the familiar live voice of Hugh Harris, but the recorded voice was someone else. For added realism, the new voice was interrupted in turn by the recorded voice of the alleged capsule communicator, Daniel Brandenstein. Listen in:
First a high-pitched screech followed by: "One minute 45 seconds, coming up on - -(mumbling). Columbia, you're (mumbled words, another screech)" "That call-up says...`Columbia, the altitude is too high...for ejection seat use'..."
By that point the shuttle Columbia was more than 20 miles high, and climbing fast. Everything was going according to plan so far, so the things you were hearing on the tape recording corresponded to what you were seeing. You could still see the Shuttle on your TV sets, but it had dwindled to nothing more than three bright spots dancing in the far distant sky.
The last thing that you were able to see and verify for yourselves about the Shuttle was the separation of those two giant solid-rocket boosters. A little over two minutes after lift-off, you were able to watch the boosters, two burning bright spots, break off to each side. That left only the single tiny flame of the Shuttle itself, gradually fading into invisibility. Several seconds later the NASA tape recording caught up with what you had already seen, and said the boosters had separated. Moments later the tiny bright dot of the Shuttle faded from your screens. It was too far away for the television cameras to follow. You had just had your LAST look at the REAL space shuttle Columbia.
WHY?
A couple of reasons: 1) To completely hide the military nature of the mission; and 2) to make sure the mission looked like a total success, no matter what might happen in secret. At the time the Bolsheviks in the federal government were depending heavily on the Space Shuttle program to get ready for a nuclear first strike war against Russia. Yes, you heard me correctly.
The falsified NASA coverage of the mission of the space shuttle Columbia was carried out exactly according to plan. We'll consider some of the deceit a bit later. The plan was originated and actually "tattled" to the public some two months prior to the so-called launch but no paper dared print it.
During the flight you got some neat cockpit scenes made by training techniques, etc., and the tale was spiced up by telling you that a few non-critical tiles had fallen off, as if any of the crew could see such a thing from inside. Otherwise you were repeatedly told how perfectly the Columbia was performing.
Well, Hatonn, "Surely someone at those desks would know!" Yes, most knew the hoax but many were seeing exactly that which the public was witnessing, especially when the "wives" came to have a little space visit. "Well, the astronauts must have known"--oh, indeed, indeed, but not in the planning stages for you were dealing with America's elite. Oh, you think an astronaut wouldn't either take bribes or - - - -? Seems to me one of your finest has been in Congress and takes bribes right along with others--from the S&Ls no less. Further, a man's family does not fare well if top-secrets are brought public and always--the "National Security" etc., etc.--remember, they were told the Russians were going to launch a nuclear world war momentarily. What could a little secret hurt if in the long run America was saved by the secret?
On April 23, a news conference about the flight was held in Houston, by the alleged two astronauts, John Young and Robert Crippen. The entity called John Young summed up the flight in words that were more meaningful than most people suspected. Referring to the falsified flight which was followed on television, he called it, quote: "...even better than normal". And so it was! The Bolsheviks who now controlled NASA bent over backwards to paint the image of an abnormally perfect shuttle flight. Meanwhile the actual Shuttle mission, which was carried out in secret, did not go according to plan. After the Shuttle disappeared from your television screens, the flight continued for barely four more minutes before disaster struck. The Columbia never even reached earth orbit!
It is far past time you know the truth of this subterfuge. You must realize how and why the truth has been hidden from you. The stakes involve nothing less than the very survival of your land and your way of life.
ADVANCE PREPARATIONS
You ones work on the adage that "seeing is believing". For that reason, television has become the number one tool of deception in the world today. Through television you are made to see things you do not understand so that you will believe things that are not true. If television were used honestly and constructively, television could be a great force for good. Instead, it is used continually to hoax, deceive, and mislead you. Video-taping makes events which took place weeks or months ago look as if they were taking place "alive" right before your eyes. Computer editing enables scenes to be spliced together to create completely artificial images that look entirely real. Special effects of all kinds enable these television hoaxes to be very convincing indeed.
There are continuing hoax presentations--most notably projected from your "Meet the Press" program. The granddaddy of the hoaxes, surpassing even the "Guyana" and "SKYLAB" lies, was undoubtedly the space shuttle Columbia.
For starters, you were led to believe that, until some short time prior, no space shuttle had ever left the earth's atmosphere and gone into space. You were also led to believe that the very first space flight by a shuttle had to be an orbital flight, instead of something less extreme. To make matters still worse, NASA swore up and down that this very first flight, pushing the Shuttle to its limits, just had to have men aboard. At one point even John Young himself was quoted to this effect very widely in the controlled major media.
For example, in February prior, the New York Times carried a big article about the Shuttle. Quoting from the article: "Mr. Young said that to have conducted an unmanned orbital flight of the Shuttle first would have added perhaps $500,000,000 to project costs, and meant another year's delay." Statements like that were cooked up purely to explain away the many things that did not add up about the announced plans for the Columbia's flight. Many people believed these explanations, but they were just a litany of lies.
Time after time during the television coverage of the alleged flight, John Young's earlier statement was totally contradicted. Authoritative spokesmen pointed out over and over that the astronauts control the Shuttle by telling computers aboard the Shuttle what they want. The computers then do all the actual activation and control of the Shuttle--and, in an emergency, the Shuttle can fly itself into orbit, re-enter, and even land itself without help from the pilots. So much for all those lies NASA told you about an unmanned first flight being impossible. See, they never quite get their stories completely right.
Dharma, allow us to close this for we are out of time and I do not wish to hop about out of order. Let us keep discussion of this matter to minimum at the meeting for we will giving the entire story and I don't wish to take the time of the "live" group when it can better be read later without errors in discernment, receiving or cause undue time in scanner research.
Hatonn to standby. Salu.
PJ 18CHAPTER 8
REC #1 HATONN
SUNDAY, JULY 22, 1990 7:55 A.M. YEAR 3 DAY 339
WHY WERE ASTRONAUTS ABOARD IF MANNED SHIPS
UNNECESSARY?
Because the real mission was military in nature. Astronauts had to be aboard to carry it out. NASA told you that the flight was only a test flight with the cargo bay practically empty. But the cargo bay of the Columbia was certainly not empty. It carried a laser-armed Spy Satellite equipped with special shields to protect it against Russian space weapons.
Yes, I know that they showed you "live" pictures from space and you could see that the bay was empty. No, not "live" pictures but video tapes. The pictures with the doors closed were taken inside a training mock-up of the shuttle that is carried inside a specially modified Boeing 747. The pictures with the doors open were taken on the ground inside a darkened hangar. Then these scenes were combined by video tape editing techniques with video tapes of the earth taken from orbit some years past. The final product was what you saw on television. It was not what it appeared to be, but with humans, "seeing is believing". You feel cheated? I hope so!
If you ever have an opportunity to again see those scenes, or even now while the hype goes forth, with the Shuttle doors open, supposedly in space, there is an ever present tell-tale clue to watch for. Shadows in space are sharp and very harsh because there are no air particles to soften and diffuse the light. The shadows you most often saw and still see on television were softer because they were not made in space. Who would notice? Most TVs are not of such quality as to show these details and the films are carefully mounted. And remember--you were probably up getting ready for your day as they launched the Shuttle--most certainly you were either listening on radio or TV which interrupted your morning when it landed. You were not watching for anything except a landing, good or bad. You could not know that the traitors were feeding you bunk. But I assure you that the Russians laughed and drank a toast to one another.
NASA pretended that the Columbia flight was the very first shuttle flight into space. You are supposed to believe that the only previous shuttle operations were a few gliding tests launched from mid-air by another modified 747. Nothing could be more ridiculous, dear ones, or more untrue.
There is a very obvious question about the Space Shuttle Program which NASA has always managed to side step. Somehow no one ever quite dares to ask it. The question is: Why wasn't the space shuttle "Enterprise" the first to be sent into orbit? After all, the Enterprise made its public debut nearly four years prior in the summer of 1977.
To all outward appearances, the Enterprise looks identical to its sister ship, the Columbia--even today all the Shuttles look alike, to the best of the manufacturers ability. The differences between the Columbia and Enterprise are so subtle that you would never notice them unless you knew exactly what to look for. The engines of the Enterprise look just like the engines of the Columbia. The Enterprise is also covered with the same system of thermal tiles as the Columbia, so again, the question is: Why wasn't the Enterprise sent into orbit long ago? Why did NASA wait three years and more to launch the Columbia instead?
Because the Enterprise was designed to be a training ship for shuttle astronauts. It was not meant for orbital flight. Instead, it was specifically equipped to make shorter, suborbital flights into space. In effect, it can do everything short of going into earth orbit. It can climb to orbital altitudes as high as 125 miles before dropping back to earth. This enables astronauts to practice working in weightlessness for up to five or six minutes at a given time or whatever the government assumes happens in space.
It also allows astronauts to practice landing the shuttle, which is far more important. This allows slowing down from speeds of around 5,000 miles per hour and getting the craft on the ground in, hopefully, one piece--undamaged.
The Enterprise was exactly like its sister ships in the crew compartment and cockpit. What made the Enterprise radically different is the cargo bay area. The Enterprise cannot carry a cargo because the bay area is taken up by rocket fuel tanks. The tanks of the Enterprise can hold well over 100,000 pounds of rocket fuel when fully loaded. To make a suborbital hop into space, in this primitive manner, the Enterprise is perched on top of a modified Boeing 747 known as the "Launch Aircraft". Inside the 747 there are technicians with instruments and support equipment for the shuttle--all of you have seen the Shuttle being returned cross country atop a 747. At an altitude of about 40,000 feet, the shuttle was then launched. The launching techniques were derived from the older days of what you called the X-15 Research Airplane and several other similar craft.
The Enterprise would be released from its mounts, rise up and then fall back to the rear of the 747. As soon as it was clear of the launch craft, the Enterprise would start its rocket engines and zoom upward at a very steep angle. After a minute or so the rockets would be shut off, and the Enterprise would be left to coast upward to its peak altitude and then it would drop back toward earth. From the moment the engines would shut off until the shuttle began re-entering the atmosphere five or six minutes later, the astronauts inside would be weightless.
Young and Crippen made over half a dozen of these training flights aboard the Enterprise before they lifted off aboard the Columbia at Cape Canaveral. That is why they were so ready to go all the way into orbit. They had done their homework and everything that was necessary to work their way up to it.
The Shuttle Enterprise was not the only training necessary in preparation for even suborbital flights. They spent many hours in the detailed replica of the shuttle which is housed inside a modified Boeing 747. The "Flying Mock-up" as it is called, is a simulator designed to acquaint astronauts with shuttle operation as realistically as possible. One of its advantages is that it can even provide periods of weightlessness of up to some three quarters of a minute. The 747 pilot does this by flying a precise arc through the air called a "parabolic trajectory". It's an old technique developed long ago to help astronauts get accustomed to the feeling of weightlessness.
All of those things and more were originally conceived and developed for purely technical reasons, but they were then, and are now, being kept secret from you because the ones who controlled NASA have turned them into tools of deception against "you the people".
Almost all attention was placed on three areas of geographic location. One is the launch site for orbital missions, Cape Canaveral, Florida, Edwards Air Force Base, California and the NASA Manned Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas. Therefore, all attention is focused on these three while the most important area is totally overlooked--White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico.
Few people, even at the time of Columbia's first launch, even remember that White Sands is where America's Space Program got its start after World War II. Captured German V-2 rockets were taken to White Sands to be studied and test fired. After the V-2s, there were American rockets, the Navy's Viking series, and others. They were launched, rocketed upward into the fringes of space, and came back to earth--all within the boundaries of the vast White Sands Missile Range.
Perhaps some of you remember the time that one of the missiles got out of control, veered south, and almost destroyed a small Mexican town when it crashed to earth; but that was the exception, even though dramatic, to the normal situation. Most of the time, no one outside White Sands even knew when rockets were launched.
All of you are aware of the size of Edwards Air Force Base in California. For comparison, White Sands is so vast that it would easily hold some 100 Edwards Air Force Bases. That is a lot of territory.
White Sands was the training base for space shuttle pilots and in 1977 became far more. It is the geographic key to the secret military missions which are the central focus of the Space Program. The early Space Shuttle Program was being managed in a way that was far different from even today, and different from the original plans. In late summer of 1977 you were shown early gliding tests of the training shuttle, Enterprise. The plan of NASA was to gather public support for the Shuttle Program, just as they had done a decade earlier in the "Moon Program". (That, dear ones, is a dandy subject, also.)
APOLLO PROGRAM
This was one of the biggest military programs in American History, to that point in history, and was disguised as a peaceful scientific venture. In the same way, the original plan was to bathe the military Shuttle Program in the glare of deceptive publicity. In the process you would have learned about the suborbital space capability of the Enterprise. Even the crucial White Sands would have received publicity.
SO WHAT CHANGED IT ALL?
The "Battle of the Harvest Moon" (you ones do like your little ditties for labels), in space on September 27, 1977. Oh, you want to hear about that one too? How about after we finish this document?
About a month after the first gliding tests of the space shuttle Enterprise, Russia's military take-over of space was well under way. The following month, October 1977, a newly operational Russian Cosmos Interceptor shot down SKYLAB. SKYLAB, along with its crew of five American astronauts secretly aboard, died in a giant fireball over the United States. NASA immediately initiated a prolonged cover-up of what had happened. You see, if you wait a while no one remembers much of anything--as a test: Name the first moon pilots, day and year, and are you sure it was Monday instead of Thursday? Do you remember SKYLAB? Can you name the crew members? Do you know what they looked like? Cover-up is easy beyond your wildest imaginations--how many anniversaries and birthdays of your closest relatives do you forget?
NASA wanted everyone to forget about that mysterious headline-making fireball, so they pretended that SKYLAB was still in orbit but sinking unexpectedly. NASA used stories about the space shuttle as part of their SKYLAB cover-up. They pretended that perhaps the shuttle would come along in time to save SKYLAB. This was simply a double lie by NASA. First, SKYLAB could never be saved because it had already been destroyed. Secondly, the United States was in no position at that time to launch the shuttle or anything else of a military nature into space. Russia was deploying her secret new Space Triad of advanced manned space weapons.
Have you ever REALLY wondered why you never went to the moon again? America's previous military control of space had been totally shattered by Russia. Your military base on the Moon had been put out of action in the Battle of the Harvest Moon. Russian Cosmos Interceptors had started sweeping the skies clear of American Spy Satellites, and Russian hovering electrogravitic weapons platforms, the Cosmospheres, were making headlines by creating enormous air booms along the Coasts of America and still do so. All of these things took place just as America's Space Shuttle Program was getting off the ground.
"But you said...., Hatonn - - -." Yes, I did say that we are allowed to disarm any "nuclear" war weapon at a given altitude. I have never said that we take out beam systems. No, I will not tell you what, for instance, the day before yesterday's missile launch was about. Do you not even notice that now every launch is secret cargo and/or military and top-secret? I value my writers, I most certainly will not sign the death certificate, they are in enough jeopardy as it is. I suggest you ones demand to know what is going on under your noses; I am only trying to give you reason to know something heinous is going on and you must take the action to stop the incredible headlong drive into destruction.
RESULTS OF THIS NEW TWIST
The result was a complete reorganization of the Shuttle Program. The old plans to bathe it in continuous publicity were tossed. The "Bolsheviks" in your country, who had replaced the Rockefeller cartel in many areas of power, cast a net of secrecy over all the new military plans. You were never told about the capabilities of the training shuttle Enterprise, and you were never told about the many things which were going on at White Sands in the military Shuttle Program. By keeping these things secret from you, the Bolsheviks there placed themselves in a powerful position to deceive you and the deceit has continued non-stop.
You were never told about the modified NASA 747 which carried a complete replica of the crew quarters and cargo bay of a shuttle--and still does. Therefore, you are unaware that that airplane, originally intended for training, was to become a Bolshevik tool of deception against you. When you saw video tapes of astronauts in the simulated Shuttle cockpit, you naturally thought is was the real thing. Seeing a notebook float in mid-air for a few seconds next to the astronauts, you were supposed to think they were weightless because they were in orbit.
You were given no clue that those moments of weightlessness had taken place months earlier in a mock-up. Further, what would you do if you were an astronaut faced with the fact that Russia has just turned the corner and can destroy your nation with one blast? Do you not think that a good patriot would go along with the game? However, that brings us to a serious notation--perhaps the pictures fooled a lot of Americans and the World--it did not fool the new rulers of Russia. They had learned the previous fall what the flight of the Columbia was really all about; and, when the Columbia was launched on April 12, the Russians were ready and waiting!
THE REAL MISSION
The real mission plan was for a short mission. The astronauts were supposed to get into orbit and deploy the military satellite from the Columbia's cargo bay very quickly; then they were to return to Earth--not aboard the Shuttle but in a special re-entry capsule. Two days later they were supposed to land the disguised shuttle Enterprise at Edwards Air Force Base as the final act in the falsified drama staged for your benefit.
For the first time in three years the Pentagon was hoping to get a Spy Satellite into orbit that could not be shot down immediately by Russia. This attempt was destined to continue by your nerdniks into disaster after disaster.
You must know what happened in the front end to have any idea what continues. If you can think back to American space launches of the past, you may have noticed something very unusual about the launch of the Columbia. In the past, manned space launches from Cape Canaveral were always made toward the southeast, toward the equator, but not so with the Columbia. It was launched to the northeast, away from the equator. The reason for this was the secret space reconnaissance mission of the Columbia.
In its public news releases, NASA told everyone that Columbia was launching into a 44-degree orbit--that is, it would never go farther north or south than 44 degrees above and below the equator. But the actual orbit chosen for the Columbia was a 69-degree orbit. A 69-degree orbit was chosen because it would take the Columbia, and the Spy Satellite inside it, all the way north to the Arctic Circle and beyond. That is the kind of orbit that is necessary if a spy satellite is to fly reconnaissance over Russia.
The northeast launch of the Columbia was done in order to enable the Spy Satellite to start gathering data over Russia only minutes after the Columbia reached orbit. Time was of the essence in any attempt to spy on Russia. Every American spy satellite launched at Russia during the prior three years had been blinded or shot down before gathering much data.
The secret flight plan for the Columbia was completely different from what NASA claimed in public. The plan called for Columbia to be launched on an initial northeast course in the general direction of Bermuda, then roughly 2-1/2 minutes after launch, Columbia was to begin an unorthodox course change--a wide sweeping turn into the north. This unprecedented curving launch was intended as an evasive maneuver. Planners of the Columbia mission believed this would enable Columbia to sneak past any Russian Cosmospheres that might be waiting overhead. Still accelerating on its curving course, the Columbia was supposed to pass about 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Roughly 200 miles east of Washington, D.C., the Shuttle's main engines were to cut off. After coasting in silence for a few seconds, the fuel tank was scheduled to cut loose as the Columbia passed 100 miles east of New Jersey.
For the next two minutes the Shuttle and its fuel tank were to be coasting onward past the east tip of Long Island, over Boston, and onward toward Maine. During that time the Shuttle was supposed to maneuver away from the fuel tank, using small maneuvering jets.
Finally, just as the Columbia passed over New Brunswick, Canada, the flight plan called for the orbital maneuvering engines to be fired. Somewhere over the Labrador Sea, flying upside-down, the Columbia was scheduled to reach earth orbit. As soon as it did so, the flight plan called for astronauts Young and Crippen to go to work fast.
In less than ten minutes time they were supposed to open up the cargo bay doors and turn on the sensors of the Spy Satellite resting inside. As they did these things, the Columbia was to be racing over the south tip of Greenland, out over the middle of the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland, above the Arctic Circle, and then dipping back southward toward northern Norway, Finland, and Russia. According to the flight plan, the Columbia was scheduled to cross the Russian border just south of the strategic Kola Peninsula. This would be only some less than 23 minutes after lift-off. At that instant initial reconnaissance over Russia was to be under way. The Spy Satellite inside the cargo bay, even though not yet deployed, would have had a perfect view downward through the open doors of the upside-down Shuttle.
The Columbia was intended to fly over a course across Russia that began just west of the strategic White Sea in extreme northwestern Russia. From there the planned course of the Columbia was to take it southeastward over some 2500 miles of strategic Russian territory. During the first minute alone, the Satellite was expected to see parts of the highly sensitive Kola Peninsula, the White Sea, including the super secret submarine yards at Archangel and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The Shuttle was also to pass near Kazan, one of the bases of Russia's flying ABM system. This system uses charged particle beams carried by supersonic TU-144 Transports. Yes indeed, we shall get back to this subject.
Toward the end of the first pass over Russia the Spy Satellite was expected to gather data on two more of Russia's four Cosmodromes--those of Baiokonur and Tyuratam. In between, numerous other war targets were also to come under scrutiny. The Spy Satellite in the Columbia's cargo bay was expected to see all that during its very first pass over Russian territory. It would all take only 8-1/2 minutes. Then the Columbia would have crossed the border with Afghanistan, heading toward India. Barely 10 minutes later, the Spy Satellite was to be radioing its data down to the American receivers at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Now, that WAS the plan. The military planners were confident that their Spy Satellite would get at least this planned first look at Russia. They were sure that Columbia's curving launch and the short time involved would prevent Russia from thwarting the mission. Columbia took off from Cape Canaveral at 7:00 A.M. Eastern Time, that Sunday morning. By 7:23 Columbia was expected to be over Russia already. By 7:31 Columbia was expected to be leaving Russian skys, and by 7:45 that same Sunday morning the military planners expected to have their first reconnaissance data from Russia.
The plan sounded plausible but the "planners" were falling victim to the very intelligence gap which they themselves created in America years before. Russian Intelligence agents were able to learn the general outlines of the Columbia mission plan some six months prior to launch. It is worse today, dear ones, for there are more KGB agents in your CIA than you have.
Fully a month before the public roll-out of the Columbia at the Cape in November of 1980, the Russian Space Command was studying the problem. There was no question about one thing: The Columbia's mission could not be allowed to succeed.
Given even a shred of up-to-date reconnaissance data, the Bolsheviks in America were determined to set off a nuclear war. Even so, there was a question about the best way to spoil the mission. Several possibilities were considered, including sabotage or simply blasting the Columbia out of the sky. All were rejected because they shared one weakness. Each alternative would halt one shuttle mission, but it would not stop the Shuttle Program as a whole, and Russia's goal was to completely shut down the Space Shuttle Program.
At last they hit upon the solution. What was needed was a Space Age version of the famous U-2 incident of two decades prior. In the waning days of the Eisenhower Administration, Russia had publicly accused the United States of invading its air space with spy flights. That was before the era of Spy Satellites, and invading other countries' air space was a serious charge in the eyes of the world.
American spokesmen tried to diffuse the growing furor while carefully avoiding a definitive denial of the charges; but the Russians kept it up. Finally President Eisenhower became so exasperated that he flatly denied, in public, that America was flying spy planes over Russia. That was exactly what the Russians were waiting for. The Russians promptly did what American Intelligence specialists thought they could not do--they shot down a high-flying U-2 on a flight over Russia. The name of the CIA pilot, the late Francis Gary Powers, filled the headlines world-wide overnight. The Russians had made a liar of the President of the United States. A summit had been scheduled between President Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev, but the Russians icily called it off. In studying the Columbia situation, the Russians decided to make the focus of similar nature. After all, all they would need would be to land that shuttle intact.
This seems as appropriate as any point to close this writing but we shall continue on this subject in the next. So be it.
